Forum:2018-07-20 (Friday)
Discussion for comic for . Veni, vidi, wiki (I came, I saw, I edited). ---- Hi there, Chump! --Geoduck42 (talk) 04:10, July 20, 2018 (UTC) : And lil' baby Gil! Speaking of which, he's been not stuck in Spark mode for a while now, I've noticed. I guess K-I-G decided to give his poor son's brain a break. --MadCat221 (talk) 04:37, July 20, 2018 (UTC) As if the "Can you draw what Zeetha's dad Chump looks like?" request years ago wasn't clear enough, now we have a canonical depiction to further tease what we already all know. --MadCat221 (talk) 04:35, July 20, 2018 (UTC) Waah, you (MadCat221) beat me because I was typing too much stuff! ➤ Typo in last panel reported. ➤ If the mirrors predate the queens, did the queen carvings at their sides come first (the Other?) or were the mirrors moved (or had buildings built around them) by the queens? More important, who built them? Do we know whether the queens came before or after the Heterodynes? ➤ How does Gil know how Agatha escaped the time stop? Is this general knowledge? He hasn't had a chance to talk with her, or anyone in her party, I believe. ➤ : (I try to stay out of this) Agatha told him, in her message, that she was dragged through some kind of gate. Of course, everyone forgets about Higss (he is good t at that - even readers of the comic don't see him.) --Fred1740 (talk) 11:25, July 20, 2018 (UTC) ::First, the exclusion zone sentinel clanks with the goop guns positively identified her and sent a signal, and then Agatha more directly confirmed it with the giant messenger clank at the end of 2013. --MadCat221 (talk) 18:07, July 21, 2018 (UTC) And does Tarvek really know anything about the mirrors? Tweedle certainly does, but there's no evidence that he'd know how to fix (or break) them. I'm betting that Red Cathedral Lady knows some ancient secrets, and so does the Castle, but not Tarvek. Bkharvey (talk) 04:45, July 20, 2018 (UTC) Also, is that thing in Klaus's left hand a get-through-the-mirror device, or a weapon? Did he have to fight his way to the mirror in Skifander? Bkharvey (talk) 04:49, July 20, 2018 (UTC) : I think we have to chalk up Gil's knowledge of her escape method to his spy network, unless Vandemonde knew about it, and told him, which seems unlikely. There's no objective way to know how much Tarvek knows, but I'd suspect he doesn't have any detailed knowledge. And Klaus has a sword; it's the same weapon he's wielding in the Chump portrait. --Geoduck42 (talk) 05:27, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :: Yes, Klaus is coming in sword first because he doesn't know what reception he will get. Is he bringing baby Gil back to Mechanicsburg or did they travel somewhere else? I wonder what is the first location mentioned in the post-return notes of Klaus. Argadi (talk) 09:35, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :::Very likely somewhere else. The timeline here, unfortunately, is one the Foglio's seem to have paid little attention to. Castle Heterodyne is "attacked" 40 months (three years 4 months) after Klaus disappears (2 years 3 months to Klaus Barry birth who dies at 13 months). The Boys fight on for three years. Klaus reappears "shortly" after that. So approximately six and a half years from gone to return. The first edition novel originally said four years. He returns with a very young Gilamesh. According to the novel, "Chump" left Skifander when Zeetha was one month old. If they ARE fraternal twins, it makes them both four years older than Agatha in the first Act. Then there is some question about when she was conceived. Something, I admit, the Foglios have made fuzzy. BUT she IS a "designer" baby. That means Klaus escaped Skifander between four and five years before he turns up in Europa. --Fred1740 (talk) 11:25, July 20, 2018 (UTC) ::::No. No it doesn't. A defective Portal can distort Time. You have been assuming the Time-Out Bomb that Klaus set off was responsible for Agatha's delays, but this may not be so. Old or badly maintained Portals may have similar results. Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 13:19, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :: . --MadCat221 (talk) 04:29, July 22, 2018 (UTC) A little while ago, William was telling us that the Tobber story was shaping up as a classic British whodunit. As of today (largely because of the mirrors predating the queens) I feel as if I'm reading a history-of-the-universe science fiction series, like Asimov's robots-and-Foundation history, or the Lensman books, or the Weapon Shop books. Bkharvey (talk) 06:03, July 20, 2018 (UTC) Until now, we've only seen the mirrors as teleportation devices, with people passing through a solid green block. But in panel 3, it seems that the people on this side are seeing people on the other side, like television. That makes the name "mirror" slightly more plausible. (Oh, the stray comma in panel 5 reported.) Bkharvey (talk) 06:15, July 20, 2018 (UTC) Klaus's outfit is very John Carter Of Mars, ain't it? Would that be a proper attire for a member of a male harem, in an Amazon society? Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 13:21, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :Also, Klaus ...is left-handed? Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 13:22, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :: He is holding his sword in his left hand, but that would mean more if there wasn't a baby in his other hand. From his level of training I would expect he can fight with a sword in either hand. Argadi (talk) 13:50, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :::I dunno. I've been checking the images of Klaus in the Canon, & he uses his left hand A LOT. Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 18:32, July 20, 2018 (UTC) ::::All the smartest people are left handed! ☺ Bkharvey (talk) 18:46, July 20, 2018 (UTC) When we first learned of Klaus returning with Gil, I formed the impression that he did it without benefit of mirrors, and that therefore he knew how to find Skifander. I was hoping he'd tell Zeetha. But I guess not. (By the way, usually when someone is recounting past events, accompanied by sepia illustrations, those illustrations reflect the knowledge of the person telling the story. But in this case, Gil evidently doesn't know that Klaus brought him through a mirror.) Bkharvey (talk) 19:43, July 20, 2018 (UTC) :This just means he knows how to activate the mirrors. Perhaps Klaus-In-Gil knows how to enable the mirror here to link to Queen Luheia's Mirror, and that's how all our heroes will make it to Skifandr at some point. --MadCat221 (talk) 14:24, July 22, 2018 (UTC) I predict the next comic will cut back to the Wooster/Tarvek/Higgs plotline, with Tarvek about to be told something interesting by Wooster, something subtly designed to make him suspicious of Gil and his motives/loyalties. Just as Gil has just been told something to subtly drive a wedge between him and Tarvek. Martin The Mess (talk) 21:15, July 21, 2018 (UTC) : Oh! Now that's an interesting idea. I guess I'm not going to be a spy when I grow up; that never occurred to me, even though I know Trelawney pulled Gil here on purpose. I figured it was to see the Mirror, not to hear Moonbark. But, a couple of things that bother me about your idea: (1) Tarvek knowing about the mirrors isn't like Tarvek knowing about the wasps; it's not really relevant to undoing the time stop (is it?), so if he did know something about them, it wouldn't be a betrayal. (2) Gil meant it when he said he trusts Tarvek not to betray Agatha even if he doesn't trust him about anything else. They are turning Gil too easily. (3) So many things had to happen just right for this plan to work. It's a real stretch. Bkharvey (talk) 21:51, July 21, 2018 (UTC) :: (Replying to myself...) Someone (not Klaus) is messing with Gil's brain. On the subject of them turning Gil too easily: Gil is really being stupid here. Leaving aside Gil's actually-mostly-friendly-lately feelings toward Tarvek(→), he knows that Tarvek and Tweedle are mortal enemies! He just finished rescuing Tarvek from Tweedle's assasin. Keeping that in mind, remember that Trelawney's intervention was possible because Gil mysteriously couldn't concentrate on his work. Something is wrong with him, and, especially in light of your theory, I don't think it's an accident. Bkharvey (talk) 03:40, July 22, 2018 (UTC) ::: Tweedle being his mortal enemy would give Tarvek all the more reason to snoop and spy on his activities and technical projects. That said, I doubt Tarvek has any detailed info on the Mirrors. --Geoduck42 (talk) 05:28, July 22, 2018 (UTC) :::: Oh... I didn't read Moonbark's suggestion that way. The way he said it, and with a big smile on his face, he can't mean "maybe his enemy Tarvek knows about it"; he means "maybe his cousin Tarvek knows about it." And, if Tarvek got info on the mirrors by spying on Tweedle, that wouldn't bother Gil. What bothers Gil is the lingering suspicion that Tarvek (But he's still being stupid about it.) Bkharvey (talk) 05:39, July 22, 2018 (UTC) ::: Yeah, don't US go underestimating Gil again. On the one hand, yes, this IS reminding him that Tarvek is a smug snake from a long line of smug snakes in a family tree absolutely slithering with more of the same. On the other, this is Gil we're talking about, he neither needs reminding of this fact nor is he stupid enough to not realize (eventually) when someone is trying to manipulate him. At least when that person isn't Zola. But especially when that person is a known agent of his Empire's greatest rival, which sees his Empire as THEIR greatest rival. He may be playing along to make them think they're succeeding, but I don't think they're gonna shift his thinking on Tarvek as much as they hope. I just wanted to point out that this seems to be what they're TRYING to do, not what they're gonna necessarily succeed at. -- Martin The Mess (talk) 07:15, July 23, 2018 (UTC) :::: Oh, don't misunderstand, I don't think Gil is stupid! But he's being stupid right now because, I claim, someone, presumably Albia but maybe a specialized spark on her staff, is making him stupid by manipulating his brain. I wouldn't think so just from this installment, but in combination with his inability to concentrate in his lab, there has to be a reason. Bkharvey (talk) 07:28, July 23, 2018 (UTC)